Latest Reads: Open Your Eyes Paula Daly.

Jane doesn’t like confrontation. Given the choice, she’d prefer to focus on what’s going well, the good things in life.

But when her husband, Leon, is brutally attacked in the driveway of their home, in front of their two young children, Jane has to face reality. As he lies in a coma, Jane must open her eyes to the problems in her life, and the secrets that have been kept from her, if she’s to find out who hurt her husband – and why.

Maybe it’s time to face up to it all. Who knows what you might find . . .

This was a brilliantly addictive novel from the pen of one of my favourite writers Paula Daly. I read it fast, utterly caught up in Jane’s battle to learn to live with a man who is completely changed from the man she married and to discover what happened to him in those short moments after she left him in the car…

The story encompasses many themes and is set in the literary world so will resonate with readers everywhere. The emotional core of it sits within the trauma of life after severe brain injury, the terrible affect not only on the victim but on those that love them. Having had some experience of this with friends of mine I was struck by how well the author captures the heartache and the challenges, authentically and emotionally, the writing is beautifully immersive and resonant.

Add to that a truly intriguing and unpredictable mystery element with some well placed and surprising twists of plot, plus a pitch perfect ending that will keep you thinking about it long after reading and you have an excellent read, well worth the wait and Open Your Eyes definitely comes highly recommended by me.